NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Fentanyl caused or contributed to death in 76% of fatal overdoses in 2021, that's according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Lisa Reed, a Newport News woman who lost her daughter, Kaitlyn, to the drug, comes to the Remembrance Garden at Peninsula Memorial Park remember her youngest daughter.
“She was a mom. She had two beautiful little girls who she absolutely adored,” Lisa Reed said.
Kaitlyn was just 23 when she died of fentanyl poisoning. Lisa says she still remembers the phone call on Jan. 15, 2021.
“He just somberly said, 'Hey, our little girl is gone. And I said, 'What do you mean she’s gone? Where did she go?' He said, 'She’s gone. She’s dead.' And I just immediately dropped to the floor,” Lisa recalled.
She said she knew that fentanyl had claimed her daughter's life, a young woman battling depression and PTSD, fighting through the pain.
“I know for a fact if my daughter knew that there was fentanyl in that pill she would have never taken it,” she said.
Lisa is now hoping to talk to local students about the dangers of the drug.
“It’s not worth it. You’re not going to get high off of this, you’re going to die. It’s that simple, you’re going to die,” she said.
Lisa visited Kaitlyn's urn.
“I just came by to say, hi. I know you’re good, I know you’re well. I know you probably miss not being here with your girls. We think about you all the time and we just miss you, we really miss you," Lisa said. “I never tell her goodbye, I always say I’ll see you next time.”
Sunday is National Fentanyl Awareness Day and that would have also been Kaitlyn's 25th birthday.
